Notting Hill Carnival Shuttle Routes 26/08/13

Notting Hill Carnival is probably the largest, loudest and most exciting street party in Europe (which I may never go to, even though I'd want to). But I covered buses alongside, affected by the carnival. And yes, it did mean I went to White City (in part 2). This can only end well...

Firstly - the shuttles:

2X/436X, if you haven't gathered ;)
2X was operated by VLAs and Ts (which I almost got, if it weren't for some cars, a whole central reservation made of rocks etc etc)
436X is made of spare MECs ex-507/521


London General MEC15 on Route 436X, Kensington High Street


Arriva London South VLA2 on Route 2X, Kensington High Street


London General MEC33 on Route 436X, Kensington High Street


London General MEC18 on Route 436X, Kensington High Street


Arriva London South VLA10 on Route 2X, Kensington High Street


Arriva London South VLA9 on Route 2X, Hyde Park Corner


London General MEC27 on Route 436X, Hyde Park Corner

Now, 36 extras and 36X:


Go-Ahead London E266 on Route 36X, Arriva HV53 on Route 73, Hyde Park Corner


Go-Ahead London WVL129 on Route 36 Extra, Park Lane

And the final special Carnival route:


205X - Aldgate to Harrow Road (using E40H), the only shuttle I went on!:


Stagecoach 12132 on Route 205X, Marylebone

205X to Aldgate iBus


Stagecoach 12148 on Route 205X, St Pancras

205X to Harrow Road, Elgin Avenue iBus


Stagecoach 12128 on Route 205X, Marylebone


Stagecoach 12134 on Route 205X, Marylebone

Then the diversions and extras, covered in Kensington High Street and, yes, White City* in the next post...

Route 11 LT Testing 30/08/13

On the 30th August, I saw something I didn't expect. Ever:

London General LT57 on Route 11 Training, Sloane Square
Note - the WVL on the 11 passing opposite the LT, what a coincidence!


London General LT57 on Route 11 Training, Sloane Square


London General LT57 on Route 11 Training, Sloane Square


London General LT57 on Route 11 Training, Sloane Square

Wait until the 21st of September to see these "beauties" in service!

Workings on Routes... 24/08/13

On the 24th, Josh and I were quite lucky with unallocated workings! The full list:

London Central E103 on Route 185
London General E81 on Route 280
London General WDL1 on Route 155
Metrobus 715 on Route 293
Quality Line OV07 on Route 467

Firstly, at Vauxhall, E103 appeared on the 185: 

London Central E103 on Route 185, Vauxhall Bus Station (Au)





London Central E103 on Route 185, Vauxhall Bus Station (Au)

London Central E103 on Route 185, Vauxhall Bus Station (JPT)

London Central E103 on Route 185, Vauxhall Bus Station (Au)

After a visit to Purley and Croydon, we went to Tooting:


London General E81 on Route 280, Tooting (Au)


London General WDL1 on Route 155, Tooting (Au)


London General WDL1 on Route 155, Tooting Broadway (Au)


London General WDL1 on Route 155, Tooting Broadway (Au)

Afterwards, we went to Morden, and got on a 293 when this happened:


Metrobus 715 on Route 293, North Cheam (Au)
This was taken from inside another 293, with very wet windows, so it was nearly impossible to get a good shot!


Metrobus 715 on Route 293, North Cheam (JPT)
Same thing here.

We were on our way to Epsom. In order to get home, we took 467:


Quality Line OV06 on Route 467, Epsom Clock Tower (Au)


Quality Line OV06 on Route 467, Epsom Clock Tower (Au)

Route 13 New Buses 10/08/13, 20/08/13

The new VHs, highly anticipated/wanted by Lewis, yet caught by Tom, Josh and Aubrey:

Firstly, Tom Bowell got some photos at Golders Green after the Holloway Garage Open Day:

Lower Deck interior (TB)

Upper Deck Interior (TB)

London Sovereign VH3 on Route 13, Golders Green (TB)

London Sovereign VH3 on Route 13, Golders Green (TB)

London Sovereign VH3 on Route 13, Golders Green (TB)

Afterwards, on the 20th (after I returned from holiday), Josh and I (Aubrey) decided to go to Aldwych to cover this:

London Sovereign VH2, VH10 on Route 13, Aldwych (JPT)

London Sovereign VH2 on Route 13, Aldwych (Au)


The legals have been partly fixed, at least. Garage should have a capital "G" though...
It used to have Edgware spelt as "Edgeware", a common mistake...


Lower Deck Interior in service (Au)


London Sovereign VH2 on Route 13, Charing Cross (Au)


London Sovereign VH4 on Route 13, Regent Street (Au)


London Sovereign VH8 on Route 13, Regent Street (Au)


London Sovereign VH6 on Route 13, Piccadilly Circus

Afterwards, Josh and Au went to Hounslow to get two TAs on the 110. At the same time.

My Picture Archive Post 14

First London TN32966 on Route 295, Hammersmith, 27/05/08

TN32966, it has been on loan to London United for float cover for iBus, including service on the 120 (grr) and the 111. At that time, it had just returned. It was originally ordered for routes at Westbourne Park, thus it is back at its old haunting ground of Hammersmith (for the 27). It has had a spell on the 212 from Northumberland Park. It left London soon after this and is now having a nice spell at Glasgow. Hopefully! It also has annoyingly been fitted with LEDs. That would have a certain person very happy.

And now the 295. It goes via Shepherd's Bush*, Hammersmith, Fulham en route from Ladbroke Grove Superstore (where on the adjacent GWML the Ladbroke Grove rail crash unfortunately happened between a 166 and HST) to Clapham Junction (which has the most amount of trains passing through the station daily in the UK, mainly from Southern and South West Trains). It was originally a small East Acton to Hammersmith via the Westway*, but has since been extended and rerouted from Shepherd's Bush to now run the current route. It now currently has Volvo B9TL/Wright Geminis by Tower Transit from a now smaller Westbourne Park Garage.

Workings on Route 490, H26 14/07/13

 

Abellio 8124 on Route H26 (LJN), Abellio 8815 on Route 490 (Au), Hatton Cross.

Both buses are for the recently acquired K1 and K3 contracts from London United. From time to time, Fulwell (TF) decide to allocate buses randomly, and intermix batches of buses. Using the great LVF, we found, whilst on a 128, there were two of these buses on H26 (K1 bus) and 490 (K3 bus) and we decided to go to Hatton Cross, as they were due at the same time there! However, Josh unfortunately had to go home, as the X26 is only every 30mins, leaving Lewis and I to get them. And we did:


Abellio 8124 on Route H26, Hatton Cross (Au)


Abellio 8815 on Route 490, Hatton Cross (LJN)


Abellio 8124 on Route H26, Hatton Cross (LJN)
Whilst on stand the bus driver had a slight problem with setting the blind due to the new Mobitec system in place on these buses...


Abellio 8124 on Route H26 & Metroline Travel MM785 on Route 90, Hatton Cross (Au)
The MMs may be replaced by DEs ex-Metroline West/First from the 245.

We then took the H26 to Feltham High Street:


Abellio 8124 on Route H26, 8570 on Route 117, Feltham (Au)

Afterwards, we took a 90 (and some complicated stuff later) to eventually get home!